Pride
by writergirl97
Summary: Pride can be a virtue... Or a curse. ONE-SHOT ZackElla, side Zack/Sophie. There's swearing! Beware, my dears :3 For my dearest Panfla.


She can't believe it. After all the fights, the yelling and the hatred… she loved him? She supposes it's not that much of a surprise, as she slides down the wall onto the floor. They _had_ been getting closer lately. And isn't hate one small line away from love?

Pamella shook her head viciously. No. She had hated him…. _Does _hate him. Not past tense. That would mean something changed. A sharp bang brought her eyes to the window, the damned window that opened up to look into _his_ room. Crawling stealthily, she placed her hands on the window sill and brang her face to look over.

A chuckle escaped her lips as she saw the great and mighty Zachary Shortman jamming out on an air guitar. He had headphones on and his iPod was in his right hand as it went in great, huge circles as if to slam on steel strings. She was never gonna let him live that down.

"Hey, Brow!" The red-head smugly called and then realize; shit. He had headphones in. She quickly looked around her and then pounced on her desk, extracting a broken number 3 pencil. She glided back over to the window and precisely chucked the pencil into his room. It managed to hit him right above on of his eyes, much to Pam's chagrin.

Zack sent a scandalized look over to her and then paused his music. "_What?"_ He called out to her as he pulled down the Konys and leaned his head out the window.

"Hey. I was just wondering if something was wrong. It looked like you were having a seizure."

The Shortman's voice deadpanned as he said, "Haha. Very funny."

Pam sniffed and scratched her nose. Lazily, her arm flopped out the window as the girl placed a lollipop into her mouth. "Well, yeah, I thought so."

Brow rolled his eyes and started to close his window when she called, "Wait!" In that one second of panic, she made herself look like an idiot and she winced. After a moment of silence, she started, realizing that he was waiting for her to talk.

"It's just, I was bored and had nothing else to do, so… Wanna hang out?"

Another eye roll. "Good to know I'm so loved." Thankfully, he looked away at a clock to check the time and didn't see Pam's face flush. "But I don't have that long before I have to leave."

"Oh." Her face fell in disappointment that she hoped the boy across from her didn't notice.

Zack bit his lip. "I mean…. Just don't stay long."

She looked back over at him, startled. After a moment, a small smile broke out on my lips. Moments later, she was streaking down the stairs and across her lawn. She paused at the doorway. She was always torn between knocking or walking right in. Before she could either place her knuckles on the door or grab the handle, the door flew open to reveal a tall smug blonde.

"Hey, Uni." She shrugged by him into the household. She immediately got hit in the face with the scent of vanilla and cinnamon.

"Uni? Branching out now, are we?" She flipped him the bird over her shoulder and swaggered into the living room. Her eyes were immediately assaulted with images of a shirtless Ham, which was much appreciated by the entire female population.

"Uh…." She tried to speak at the moment when she felt Zach tap under her chin twice. She glanced at him and he shrugged.

"Try not to drool." He murmured slightly bitterly with an overtone of cheer.

"Whatever." Was all her amazing brain could come up with before she plopped into the spot right next to a sweaty, six-pack-y Ham. Pam glanced at him out of the side of her eye and blushed, her eyes straying over to a window.

A flash of light caught her interest. It looked like either a flash off of glass or of a picture being taken. She saw a dark greenish-blue blob disappear after it and Pamella immediately felt paranoid. _Who the hell was that_?

She turned around to ask if anyone else saw that when she caught Zach staring at her. When they locked gazes, his blue eyes stayed there for a moment and then strayed to around the room.

Hm. That was interesting. She made a mental note to over analyze that later. The redhead opened her mouth to strike up conversation when a phone ringing split the air. Ham sighed almost angrily and got up to answer it, as Zach reclined in another chair.

"Hello…? Oh, hi Collette. Why are you calling…?" Was all that was said in his conversation before Pam refocused her attention on Zach. It always led back to Zach, didn't it?

"So…" He attempted.

"So…" Pam mocked him in a near exact tone. He chuckled.

"Always have to be so damned difficult, don't you?"

This time, _she_ rolled her eyes at the Shortman. "Who would I be with out it?" He smirked at her reply and they continued on conversation until a few minutes later they hit a road-block in their conversation.

"No."

"Oh, come _on_, Red! Besides my little brother, who do you like?"

"Why in hell do you wanna know?"

"You were the one that brought romance into the conversation in the first place, so blame yourself." Pam struggled to get a grip of her anger, so she let it out with a deep, dark sigh. Damn him, he was right.

"Well, no, I don't like anyone." Zach opened his mouth, but she quickly added, "Not even your brother." The blonde's mouth shut and they sat there in silence. It was nearly too much. Pam was overflowing with emotions at the moment. Confusion marred the [love and] hatred until suddenly, she said, "Actually…."

Zachary's eyes focused on her suddenly and he leaned to get closer. "Yeah?"

"Truthfully…?" Her earnest eyes searched his and he nodded. Her heart started thumping wildly, like there was Angel Dumott-Schunard drumming his happy little heart away inside her own. "Well… I finally realized that I love y—"

Zach was suddenly thrown back by the force of his girlfriend, Sophie. Her brown hair draped around the two of them as she pulled him into a flurry of kisses, before perkily bouncing off of him. She pulled him off of his seat and squeaked away about some protest.

"Hi, Pam!" She called as she pulled the boy said girl was about to profess her love to away. "Goodbye, Pam!"

Zach paused himself in the doorway of the living room, and the look that flashed in his ice eyes was one of annoyance and longing. "What were you going to say, Pam?" He eagerly asked her as if to say 'save me, talk to me, save _us_.'

A sad smile pulled at the girl's lips until she forced into an obvious fake smirk. "Nothing, just some bullshit."

The boy pursed his lips and stared at her, like he knew she was lying, until Sophie dragged him away. Immediately, the girl's head snapped to the opposite side while her face turned into a disgusted and crestfallen grimace. Whatever. He didn't need to know. He probably didn't even care. And even if she confessed, so what? He was with someone else. Someone better and prettier and—

What the hell was she thinking! She violently got up and went to the front door, unable to bask in the beautiful golden glow of the resident sex god. She _was_ great and she _was _beautiful. Who the hell cared about Sophie Carpenter being maybe better than her? So what if she had Zach? Pam was too strong, too proud to break down like that.

Soon enough, she plopped down onto her bed in frustration and screamed into her dark red pillow. The satin smothered her face and muffled her cry.

_Too proud_.

Too proud to tell the love of your life your feeling for them…?

Yes.

* * *

**A/N: This is for Panfla! There was a comment that she had said that really disturbed me. _She hadn't read any ZackElla lately_**_._ **That needed to be changed. So I did! And... wow...**

**I've never written for a redhead before :3**


End file.
